Remember Hytale? It’s that sandbox-style action RPG that’s often compared to Minecraft but with richer adventure and community content. After years and years of development and setbacks, it finally reached early access on January 13, 2026 on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

What happened to Hytale?

The road to reaching early access was difficult for the Hytale team with it’s journey having begun in 2015 but game development is a difficult affair. Developed by Hypixel Studios, a team formed by creators of the popular Hypixel Minecraft server, sought out to create a sandbox game that could sustain structured adventure, deep RPG systems or powerful creator tools. Riot Games would then acquire Hypixel studios in 2020 but would subsequently cancel the project and close the studio in June 2025 due to technical and scope challenges. In a shocking twist, the original founder Simon Collins-Laflamme reacquired the game and revived development independently in November 2025. Following the reacquisition, development would continue leading us to the eventual early access release.

Building the future one block at a time

Hytale is currently in early access with 3 available editions at varying price points depending on your location with them being Standard, Supporter and Cursebreaker starting at $19.99. Functionality wise, as the game is currently in early access, many features are still missing with bugs to be expected.

From the official site’s blog post on initial release, the following functions could be found on the game’s current build with it looking like there’s more in store down the line:

What’s IN Early Access:

• Exploration Mode
• Creative Mode – in-game and standalone tools
• Modding Support
• Multiplayer Support – for all modes

What’s NOT in Early Access (yet)

• Adventure Mode – Will include rich story and narrative elements, deeper progression systems, dungeons with boss fights, and more.
• Official Minigames – fun social games and competitive multiplayer modes
• Default Spawn: World Gen V2 – the complete, restored world of Orbis
• Social features – friends lists and guilds

For more info on Hytale, check out their official website.